THEY HATE ME, J.D. VANCE BOASTED

Here's The Washington Post's lead story right now:

As JD Vance prepares to make a decision about his 2028 plans, the vice president is facing a barrage of online attacks from within his party, criticism his allies say appears to be part of a coordinated attempt to poison the well for him politically.

His detractors have adopted the “Never Vance” slogan and flooded social media, especially over the past week, with attacks including claims that Vance is “unfit” to be vice president due to his efforts to negotiate a peace deal with Iran. They have asserted, without evidence, that Vance is making policy decisions not supported by President Donald Trump. They have likened him to former president Barack Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont).

The sustained public hostility from Vance’s own side of the aisle is unlike that faced by other vice presidents in decades, both in intensity and in the early timing — two years before the party will choose its next presidential nominee.

This seems bad for Vance -- until you take a closer look at the story. It doesn't quote anyone who's part of this well-poisoning campaign. The only people quoted are "a close ally of the vice president," "two other people with knowledge of Vance’s strategy," and "other advisers," all anonymous, along with "Steve Cortes, a conservative commentator supportive of Vance," and, to provide historical perspective, "Marc Short, who served as chief of staff to [Vice President Mike] Pence in the White House."

This story came from Vance World. He wants it understood that some Republicans hate him. He thinks it will help him win the 2028 Republican presidential nomination.

Why does Vance think this is happening?

Vance’s political team remains dismissive of the social media onslaught and its impact on Republican voters, believing that many of the attacks are not organic....

Vance’s allies are keenly aware of and monitoring the online attacks, but his team says the criticism sends a signal to the conservative base that establishment Republicans and opponents they label as neoconservatives hate Vance. That, they say, could ultimately strengthen his standing in a GOP primary.

Vance's team seems to be concerned that not enough Israel skeptics in the GOP noticed this in his recent Joe Rogan interview:

During the show, Vance described himself as a “reasonable moderate” in the debate over the U.S.-Israel relationship. He also cited a recent Time report about an online pro-Israel influence operation run by a former Trump campaign official, through which Vance said he was being attacked “in dishonest ways” by paid influencers.

“You know, my response to that is, ‘Well, go to hell,’” Vance told Rogan. “I’m going to do what I have to do for the American people. I represent Americans first, and that’s the way that I’ve tried to do this job.”

The operation described in the Time story isn't just "pro-Israel" -- it's financed by the Israeli government. The story tells us:

Last September, the global ad agency Havas hired [2020 Trump campaign manager Brad] Parscale’s firm, Clock Tower X, to conduct a digital campaign on behalf of the State of Israel, according to Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings reviewed by TIME. Under the agreement, Parscale’s operation would produce 100 original pieces of content each month, with at least 80% aimed at Gen Z audiences across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and podcasts. In a Services Agreement draft included in the filing, Parscale also pledged to amplify the campaign across social media and through “integration of narrative messaging into Salem Media Network properties and aligned distribution channels,” referring to the Christian conservative broadcasting and publishing company where he serves as Chief Strategy Officer. Parscale vowed the effort would produce at least 50 million digital impressions per month, as well as influence how AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini characterized Israel and the war. For all this, Israel agreed to pay Clock Tower X $1.5 million per month.

The campaign doesn't appear to be working:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had hired Parscale to improve the nation’s standing among conservatives, only to watch support continue to erode on the American right and across the broader U.S. electorate. "We are pissed at Brad Parscale," says [an] Israeli official familiar with the arrangement, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. "He was supposed to make things better. We have paid him lots of money. But what did he do with it? Things have only gotten worse."

But it's out there. The Post story reports:

A Washington Post analysis of conservative influencers’ posts on X found that criticism of Vance spiked immediately after his appearance on Rogan’s podcast.

Vance clearly wants anti-Netantyahu (and anti-Semitic) GOP voters to know about this. He wants them to know who hates him.

Vance is trying to walk a fine line on Israel and anti-Semitism. He'd like to retain the support of at least some voters who are uncomfortable with anti-Semitism while also dog-whistling to anti-Semites. Here's a passage about Charlie Kirk from Vance's recent memoir:

He called me in the summer of 2025 to talk about two things he was seeing among young conservatives that really worried him. The first was that they were very angry about Israeli influence in American politics. The second was that some were going from legitimate disagreement with the Israeli government to anti-Semitism.

“Young people think we allow Israel too much influence over our foreign policy, and they’re concerned about it. But for some, that concern is turning to anger, and even Jew hatred.”

Charlie saw that heated foreign policy disagreements, filtered through the internet, could bleed into ethnic hatred. And while Charlie loved Israel, he agreed with a lot of his young fans that the Israeli government was not always aligned with the interests of the United States. He knew the situation was delicate and complicated, and he worked directly with young activists on how to prevent their views on this political issue from feeding bigotry.

Ironically, Vance's pal Kirk once advised Netanyahu to conduct a social media influence operation much like the one Parscale is running, as the Time story notes:

In a private letter to Netanyahu in May 2025, which TIME reviewed, Kirk warned that anti-Israel sentiment online had reached "record levels" and urged an aggressive communications campaign: mobilize influencers, send former hostages on speaking tours, flood social media with stories that humanized Israeli society. "I know you've got a 7 front war and my kvetching pales in comparison. But I'm trying to convey to you that Israel is losing support even in conservative circles," Kirk wrote. "This should be a 5 alarm fire." Netanyahu never responded to the letter, though he spoke to Kirk on the phone last year, according to a source familiar with the conversation.

Kirk later made some remarks that were critical of Israel. Right-wing influencers -- Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly -- believe Kirk was pressured to tamp down his criticism of Israel (and Owens has blamed Israel for Kirk's murder). But Vance seems to think Kirk had positioned himself correctly, and he seems to want to occupy the same spot. He wants to seem appalled by anti-Semitism while appearing to be anti-Semitism-curious (and anti-Israel-curious). Hence this Post story.